Pages

This morning I was very excited to see Rebecca Stead’s book First Light as the suggested book in the Washington Post’s KidsPost section! For my money, this place in the paper is much better for a kids’ book than the official book pages, so like, “Yeah, Rebecca!” I really liked First Light  not to mention the author herself  so I’m glad to see the book get some buzz. Remember how I mentioned the Al Roker book club call, Rebecca? You may want to prepare.

In other book news, Fuse#8 alerted me to the presence of a book trailer for Robin Brande’s book Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature. Very cool. I really enjoyed the book, but Bill reviewed it because he won the coin toss. Let me add to his review that I particularly like the humor throughout the book, which kept a heavy topic from taking over the tone. For instance, a description of a yoga position that “can only come in handy if you ever want to shave your own back.” One more thing: I think that the opening paragraphs set up the book so perfectly. Here they are, as a MotherReader bonus, so you’ll check out the trailer, the review(s), the first paragraphs, and get yourself this book  now available at a bookstore near you (or at Amazon, duh).

I knew today would be ugly.

When you’re single-handedly responsible for getting your church, your pastor, and every one of your former friends and their parents sued for millions of dollars, you expect to make some enemies. Fine.

It’s just that I hoped my first day of school  of high school, thank you, which I’ve only been looking forward to my entire life  might turn out to be at least slightly better than eating live bugs. But I guess I was wrong.

I had meant to write about my vacation to Niagara Falls because it was fabulous. Maybe later. For now I’ll give you my favorite photo from the trip. It’s a baby Beluga whale at MarineLand, and it’s waving goodbye to summer. (Click on the photo for extra cuteness.)

The Rundown

One of the bestselling preschool books of recent times was Walter the Farting Dog. At the same time, the American Library Association named as one of its best books Michael Rosen’s Sad Book, a book in which Mr. Rosen talks about his despair over the death of his son. I believe that, for most of us, what we want lies somewhere between a flatulent canine and overwhelming grief.